Conserving the Black-Footed Ferret

Lincoln Park Zoo and Montana’s Northern Cheyenne Reservation have embarked on an ambitious community conservation partnership focusing on black-footed ferrets, one of the world’s rarest mammals.

share this:

Partnering with Montana’s Northern Cheyenne Reservation

Just 30 years ago, black-footed ferrets were thought to be extinct. But the discovery of a last population near Meeteetse, Wyoming 30 years ago jumpstarted a recovery program that has reintroduced 2,600 of the predators back to the wild.

Lincoln Park Zoo has been a key partner in this recovery. Research by zoo scientists has produced key insights for maintaining the health of a population stemming from just 18 founders. Now, thanks to a grant from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Conservation Endowment Fund, zoo scientists and educators are collaborating with Montana’s Northern Cheyenne Reservation in an ambitious community conservation partnership.

The approach is two-pronged. Zoo researchers are providing conservation training and equipment to enable local partners to monitor a ferret population that was reintroduced in 2008. At the same time, zoo educators are partnering with the community to integrate the conservation effort into the local school curriculum. Teacher training, inquiry-based education programs and hands-on fieldwork opportunities will strengthen relationships between the partners and boost prospects for the ferrets’ recovery.

This ongoing collaboration will provide a new model—not only for the recovery of endangered species but also for enlisting communities as partners in conservation.

Staff

Davee Center for Epidemiology and Endocrinology and Urban Wildlife Institute

Science Spotlight: Rachel Santymire, Ph.D.

Science Spotlight: Rachel Santymire, Ph.D.

From Sichuan takin pregnancies to black-footed ferret semen cryopreservation, western lowland gorilla stress hormones to pygmy hippo skin swabs, there’s no such thing as a typical day at the office for Rachel Santymire, Ph.D., director of Lincoln Park Zoo’s Davee Center for Endocrinology and Epidemiology.